I think Curiosity used a heatshield with a drogue chute and parachute. Then near the ground, they switched from parachute to hovering with rockets. While the whole thing hovered, it lowered the rover with a winch. Winch detached and the delivery thing rocketed away and landed/crashed somewhere else.

From what I read about the SpaceX fairings, they use small gas thrusters to orient the fairing to survive reentry. Then later on deeper in the atmosphere, a "parafoil" deploys and it has some degree of control on directing which way the fairing falls.

I believe they want the fairings to avoid touching the water. There might be some metal devices or components inside, or maybe to prevent water from getting in between the different layers of plastics and carbon fiber. I'm guessing, the less water that gets on it, the less refurbishment needed to reuse it.

I know, find a way to send Putin, Trump and Kim to Mars and tell them to fight over that planet. The winner gets to stay there and rule over the robots and the other two idiots. I could add a few others to the list but I don't think the SpaceX capsule is big enough.Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

A Falcon9 rocket is in the launch pad at Cape Canaveral ready to launch the Transiting Exoplanets Survey Satellite of NASA, which will search for exoplanets in other star systems. Launch should happen on Monday April 16, wit the usual caveats,
Tullio

A Falcon9 rocket is in the launch pad at Cape Canaveral ready to launch the Transiting Exoplanets Survey Satellite of NASA, which will search for exoplanets in other star systems. Launch should happen on Monday April 16, wit the usual caveats,
Tullio

The launch of the TESS satellite has been postponed until Wed. April 18th. The official reason was given as the need for additional time for instrument calibration. I also suspect that wind gusts in the area may have been cause for concern. It's been very gusty the last two days.Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

The first stage od Falcon 9 has landed on a barge in the Atlantic called "I still love you" theregister.co.uk says that Russia is ready to abandon its venerable Soyuz launcher since it cannot compete in price with Falcon 9.
Tullio.

They have competition from Orbital ATK. An Antares rocket will launch the Cygnus spacecraft carrying supplies to the ISS on May 20 from Wallops Island. The private sector of space is warming up.
Tullio

The Orbital ATK Antares Cygnus launch to the ISS is now scheduled on May 21. On May 22 a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the GRACE-FO Earth Observing satellite and 5 Iridium communication satellites. All will be covered on NASA TV.
Tullio

The Cygnus mission has been launched to the ISS. It carries several scientific instruments, including a Cold Atom Lab which is meant to become the coldest laboratory for atomic and nuclear physics.
Tullio

A Falcon9 rocket has launched the GRACE-FO mission and 5 Iridium communication sate;;ite. There was no first stage landing or other part recovery programs, the fuel is not sufficient given the number of objects to be put in different orbits. The GRACE-FO orbits are almost polar, since the launch was from Vandenberg Air Force Base on the Western coast and not from Florida. The GRACE-FO satellites are healthy and the telemetry is nominal. The results of the preceding GRACE mission from 2002 to 2017 were just published in "Nature". GRACE is an acronym for GRAvity Climate Experiment.
Tullio